AN: Here's chapter 2. Not much else to say. Decided to upload 2 chapters right away to get into some of the actual story a bit. This first part probably needs some feedback anyway. PS, there's a lot of swearing in this chapter, maybe I should change the rating. Idk.

EDIT: Line breaks didn't save properly, which probably was causing some confusion in the transition. Hopefully the error has been fixed now.

Chapter 2: Rude Awakening(s)

Zed sat up with a start and immediately regretted it. His chest ached with a brutal pain, whatever injury the collapse of the temple had caused him was more than superficial; he was bleeding all over the snow.

He was bleeding all over the snow.

Am I in the Freljord?

Regardless, he needed to get moving. Finding something to tend to his wound was of utmost importance, and if he was in the Freljord, he was also in the utmost danger. Fearsome creatures strong enough to survive the winds and the cold prowled these parts, and would be more than a match for a wounded man armed with what would effectively be small knives.

He looked upwards as he walked, and saw that he was, thankfully, not at the top of the mountain. Looking down, he thought he could make out the tips of trees. Silver lining, he supposed. The issue was finding a way down, and before he either bled out or froze to death.

The cliff-face he was on wasn't wide enough for a leisurely stroll, and it was especially difficult to walk while looking for another outcropping close enough and large enough to shadow-blink to.

Shuffling to the edge, he found a small cave a few metres down. From there, he should be able to slide down a little bit to a lower shelf and take in his surroundings.

Zed vaulted over the edge and dropped a couple feet before sending his shadow form out to stand just outside the cave opening. He allowed himself to fall a little further before shadow swapping.

He glanced over the side again. He could see the forest floor, but more importantly, now he could see train tracks.

They looked different than they did in Zaun. These were supported entirely by concrete pillars, which were anchored firmly into the ground.

"Where am I?"

"GRRRRRRRR…"

His thoughts were interrupted by the beastly growl that echoed out from the cave. Zed moved into a defensive position as the creatures emerged.

The three wolves were unlike anything he had ever seen.

They were easily the size of a man, with jet black fur. The most notable feature, however, was easily the bone-like mask, covering their upper jaws and forehead, and their look was completed by their glowing blood red eyes, and vicious claws. These were no Murk Wolves.

Two of the creatures launched themselves at him, in quick succession. Zed responded in kind by throwing his infamous Razor Shuriken at the faster of the two. The large throwing weapon bisected the creature easily, and continued until it stuck itself in the rock wall.

They are rather frail predators…

The second creature swung it's paw in wide arc, and Zed countered by slicing off it's exposed limb mid swing, before impaling his shadow blade directly through the creature's skull. It fell limply to the ground.

He turned his attention to his third and final opponent. It stayed back at the mouth of the cave, eyeing him now in wariness. This pause allowed Zed to analyze the creature with greater intensity.

This creature was much larger than the other two, complete with larger talons and numerous bony protrusions along it's back and sides. This was the alpha; the leader of the pack.

Zed threw a shuriken to test it's reflexes. It moved to dodge, but the creature was yet too slow, the thrown blade had caught the wolf's arm. It began to attack then, approaching in a half limp from it's injury. It then leapt with all of its strength; opening its jaw to bite.

Zed was much quicker. His other shuriken was already drawn, and he used it as an impromptu melee weapon, jamming it forcefully into the oncoming mouth of the creature, before ripping open the creature's neck with a shadow slice, killing it instantly.

Zed flinched as he stepped away from the battle, and glanced down to his left side. He was bleeding quickly again, he needed to exert himself the least amount as possible. It was unknown when he would find civilization. His shurikens materialized onto his back, and Zed took another look at the creatures, only to find that the corpses were evaporating into the air, and leaving no trace behind.

Only more questions... Just where did that crystal spit me out?

He was becoming more frustrated by the minute. At least the path forward was clear: he would follow the tracks until he found civilization. It was his best chance of survival. Besides, the long walk would give him time to think about all that occurred.

Just what exactly had happened?

He should have appeared out of his shadow blink at the rendezvous point just outside the rear wall of the Ionian temple. Instead, he was stuck walking on train tracks, in a red forest, in the middle of bumfuck nowhere.

What a wondrous day.

Had the crystal's magic interfered with his teleportation? He removed some small shards that remained in his possession and analyzed them. They still maintained their opaque glow from before, just not as bright.

There were no markings on it. It was just an ordinary ruby.

That glowed.

And could store energy.

On a massive scale.

Now that he thought about it, he probably should have done significantly more research before attempting such an 'experiment.' He just needed an advantage; something good to happen for just once.

He had done it again. He had made another hasty decision. And again it cost him.

He half-tripped on a bump in the tracks, which caused him to look down.

His entire left leg was covered in the blood from his side injury.

"Ha!..." He mocked himself.

Wouldn't this be a way to go. The Master of Shadows. Bled to death on train tracks, all because of a falling rock.

If he really thought about it, every bad decision in his life was a hasty one. Because he wanted power, recognition.

He wanted to utilize the power held within the crystal, and he ended up here.

He wanted to finally be hailed as a hero in Ionia, for defending its borders, and he lost some of his best warriors and most skilled students.

He returned to his home temple to retrieve the source of his power and perfect his technique. His master was killed, and Shen hated him.

He opened the box.

Zed stumbled again. Was his vision getting blurry?

He looked down at his leg. Had there always been that much blood?

He was on his knees now, and turned around slowly.

There was a bright light, warm and inviting. The sides of the track were exploding in sparkles.

Is this truly death? How unfulfilling.

Zed fell unconscious for the second time today.

"KARL HOLY FUCK STOP THE TRAIN!"

"SHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT!"

"IT'S NOT STOPPING KARL!"

"I'M TRYIN HARVEY, I'M TRYIN!"

"EMERGENCY BRAKES!"

*SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE*

*SLAM*

*KSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH*

Today was just not Harvey Bueller's day.

First, it was the paperwork. Apparently some lunatic terrorists had recently gained control over a small portion of Forever Fall Forest's very outskirts, which, let's be honest, did almost double his payment, but OH GOD the paperwork.

Sign this, sign that, "We the Schnee Dust Company are not responsible for any harm that may come to you," blah blah blah.

This the caused him to be over half-an-hour late to the docking station to drive the train. He got yelled at for that. He tried to explain to the man that there was last minute paperwork, but he wasn't having it. He also said the time was coming out of 'Mr. Bueller's' paycheck.

After being introduced to his co-conductor, Karl…Marx? No that was someone else.

Anyway, they finally got the train going.

For about half a mile.

Engine trouble. Apparently, the train was 200 lbs over the weight limit, and wasn't fueled properly as a result. Had they guys seriously not checked this shit while they were waiting for him!? Harvey even tried to go see what the hell was making the train weigh so much, but:

"Sorry sir this car is off limits."

"But I'M THE CONDUCTOR. HOW CAN IT BE 'OFF-LIMITS' TO ME!?"

Regardless, two of the damn dust miners that the train was transporting had to take the hand car back and forth from the station to the train like 9 times before Harvey was able to give the green light for the 'let's GTFO already,' as he so eloquently put it.

And then finally they were able to get the train actually going, and only about 2 and a half hours late! Truly, a miracle.

But then, only 1 hour later, "OH NO!", then the sensors picked up an actual fucking person on the tracks. A real, air breathing person.

How the hell did he even get up here!

So then here he was slamming his head (and the rest of his body) into the train to not kill whoever this dumb idiot was on the tracks.

"GAH, MY HEAD! AND THE REST OF MY BODY!"

"Harvey, I think we stopped in time!"

"Better have fucking stopped on time! That Schnee Overseer is gonna kill me if we did all that for nothing! Probably broke half of the expensive shit during that stop," Harvey complained. "Now, let's go find out what lunatic has decided to sleep on my train tracks!"

The two got out of the conductor's car shimmied along the side of the train, before hopping off to walk down the tracks. The train had probably stopped a good 500 feet before collision. Value of top-o'-the-line Atlesian sensors he supposed.

Harvey saw the man's outfit before anything else.

"This guy's in some sorta ninja-getup! What is this, comic-on?"

"Nah Harvey, I think he's one of those huntsman! Y'know, hunt the Grimm and all that. Look at those ninja stars!"

"Yeah, he's also bleedin' all over the tracks."

The two paused.

"HOLY SHIT KARL HE'S BLEEDIN' ALL OVER THE TRACKS! GET A DOCTOR OR SOMETHIN!"

"Got it!"

Meanwhile, Harvey ran over and grabbed the 'unknown-but-very-oddly-dressed' man by the armpits and dragged him inside the conductor's car.

"KARL, IN HERE!"

"Harvey, I got one! This guy's a doctor!"

"That's right, I'm a doctor!"

"Yeah I know asshat, now hurry and use that emergency medkit over there to save him! We got it all opened up already."

"What?! I'm not that kind of doctor! I'm a Gastroenterologist! I help people with abdominal pain, not battle-wounds!"

"YEAH? Well that guy is having some pretty fukin' serious abdominal pain right now! At least hold the damn kit while Karl and I wrap his side!"

Agh, fuck this day so much, Harvey thought as he rolled up his sleeves.

"Let's get to it."

CHAPTER END

Question of the Chapter(QOTC): Does anyone know Zed's age? (Approximately) I'd imagine for him to be doing all of his ninja moves he'd be somewhere between 20-30.

AN: Hope the chapter was decent. Oh the drama and the agony! The part I'm most worried about is the fight scene and/or when he's walking around in the snow. I feel like it might be a bit awkward to read. (Hopefully it's not.) Also, in case you didn't realize, Harvey likes to swear! Figured it would be an interesting personality disparity between the two for future chapters. (Yes, Harvey will be a main/supporting character) Again, feedback and criticism always much appreciated.

Additionally, I'd like to note that I do indeed have Chapter 3 ready, but I'd like to hold off posting it for a little bit here. This will hopefully allow me to get a little farther into chapter 4. I'm not going to commit to any sort of upload schedule at the moment, as I'm very busy with schoolwork (and other important things) at the moment, so I may not be able to work on this as much as I'd like. I'll upload chapter 3 once I've begun work on Chapter 4.

-The WovenMantis